The present invention relates to a new and distinct Hydrangea plant, botanically known as Hydrangea macrophylla and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘SMHMTAU’.
The new Hydrangea plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Grand Haven, Mich. The objective of the breeding program was to develop new reblooming Hydrangea plants with strong stems and attractive inflorescences.
The new Hydrangea plant originated from a cross-pollination conducted by the Inventor in June, 2008 of Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Robert’, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 20,020, as the female, or seed parent and Hydrangea macrophylla ‘ES1’, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Hydrangea plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant from within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Grand Haven, Mich. in July, 2010.
Asexual reproduction of the new Hydrangea plant by softwood cuttings in a controlled environment in Grand Haven, Mich. since July, 2010 has shown that the unique features of this new Hydrangea plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.